ATLANTA—What we learned while watching the Tigers beat the Tigers, 26-19, in Saturday’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic game at the Georgia Dome. (In case you weren’t watching, that was the Clemson Tigers knocking off the Auburn Tigers …)

The ACC’s pride is salvaged for at least another day

Clemson’s victory kept this weekend in Atlanta from being a complete disaster for the ACC. On Friday night, N.C. State, a team considered to have an outside shot at getting to the ACC title game, was steamrolled by Tennessee, a team considered solidly in the lower half of the SEC pecking order.

Clemson is definitely an ACC favorite—along with Virginia Tech and Florida State—and Auburn definitely is not an SEC favorite—the Tigers are considered the fourth-best team in their division. For Clemson—and, make no mistake, the ACC—to lose this game would have been yet another embarrassing moment for the league.

Not 2-13 in BCS games bad, but still. This wasn’t exactly a banner opening weekend. Yes, Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia crushed lower-level opponents. But Maryland needed a fourth-quarter touchdown to beat William & Mary by one point, and Wake Forest edged Liberty by just three—and both the Terps and Demon Deacons were at home.

No Dyer, no big deal

Last season’s leading rusher, Michael Dyer, was kicked off the Auburn team for violating unspecified team rules, but the Tigers didn’t miss a beat against Clemson.

Onterio McCalebb, who had 641 yards rushing last season, and Tre Mason, who had 161, split the carries pretty evenly Saturday, with great results. Neither tailback is big and bruising—McCalebb is 5-11, 168 and Mason is 5-10, 196, but they combined for 26 rushes for 188 yards, a solid average of 7.2 yards per carry.

The Tigers are stacked at the offensive skill positions, and that’s true even without suspended star wideout Sammy Watkins. But there was legitimate concern in Clemson land about the inexperience on the offensive line.

Senior Dalton Freeman is one of the best centers in the country, but very few of his linemates had played extended minutes. And their task, to control a talented, veteran Auburn front four was, well, daunting. “Their defensive line is very, very good,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said during this week’s ACC teleconference. “The two ends (Corey Lemonier and Dee Ford) are probably as good as we’ll play. They’re very talented, very disruptive.”

The performance of Freeman and Company wasn’t perfect, but it was at least as good as could be expected. The line often bought precious extra seconds for quarterback Tajh Boyd, which is important in the Clemson offensive scheme. There are plenty of quick-hit plays in offensive coordinator Chad Morris’ playbook, but the Tigers also have slower-developing—“slower,” not slow; nothing Clemson does is “slow”—deep routes that were a highly effective part of their offensive attack last season.

Those demand extra seconds. In the first half alone Saturday, the good and bad were on display. Boyd was 15-of-20 for 128 yards, and there were a couple of long passes wiped out by Clemson penalties. On the other hand, Boyd was sacked four times. There’s still work to be done, obviously, but Clemson fans have to feel better after watching Saturday’s opener.